Whilst I may often come across as a complete Grix fan I do believe his recruitment has been haphazard and his team selection not always what I agree with ( the recruitment I believe is down to the new board coming in late in the day ) anyway looking to the future I’d like to stick with Grix and get the recruitment side sorted , with that in mind I’m gonna say who we should keep for next year and who should be binned , some will be controversial.

Keep
Woody
Salty
Walmsey
Maizen
Jouffret
Keyes
Crooks
Inman
Obrien
Calcott
Murray
Doro
Lannon
Gee
Kavanagh
Fairbank
Fleming

I would bin

Moore ( Grix loves him for his graft but for me he doesn’t do enough on the dummy half scoots or distribution)
Larroyer ( tries hard but too many penalties and not a prop imo)
Tangata ( poor discipline)
Wood ( last season)
Maher ( poor for his size both offensively and defensively)
Oakley ( if he ain’t good enough after 2 years then he ain’t good enough)
McComb ( good but poor distribution for a centre)
Pickersgill ( I’d sign widdop who could cover fullback and both hakves )


Who I’d sign

Widdop , fax lad who could be player assistant coach and cover
multiple positions and attract new signings

Douglas ( already signed )

Bayley lui from Sheffield, been impressed with his physicality and overall play

Lewis bienek ( London prop who has size punch and does reasonable minutes , my favourite prop at this level )

Jack bussey ( if fev go up I’d take him )
Bailey antribus ( looks a Grix type player )

Can’t think of who but a big physical centre with good distribution.

Joe wardle or Iain thornley

I will think and add some more has the season progresses , feel free to add your opinions.

Your summary on Grix and recruitment mirror my own - thoughts on recruitment/retention-
Not sure about Maizen - like his pace but in my opinion underwhelmed at centre - would only really be happy to give him another year on the wing if Walmsley leaves.
Don't see Mccomb as a first choice centre or winger but think he's great cover in both positions, so would keep.
If Grix stays - which I hope he does not a cat in hells chance of Brandon leaving.
Tangata has been a great servant but regretfully agree in part because we need to start bringing in some younger forwards.
Would love to sign Bailey Antrobus from York- fills the Ed Barber role - excellent at both centre and second row.

All this assumes we have control over who we keep - having had a lot of coverage this year Walmsley, JWH, and Jouffret, even though all are under contract, I think are likely to possibly attract offers from the likes of Castleford.

Yes you do come across as a staunch Grixyite and our opinions usually differ but that is excellent and I'm in almost full agreement..particularly on Tangata and Moore.Would love a Tongan centre or the like,need to find the new Tuilagi..

Yes that is a good summary for me and i know it worked a bit against us last year but i would want genuine competition for the halfs and that could well be a player like Widdop or a player that i heard we was trying to get on loan from Hull Ben mcnamara. I would also agree with the need for more physical presence at centre the 2 lads at Batley i think Hodgson is likely to end up in super league and there's Buchanan and Thornley at Wigan would certainly fit the bill if we could get him. I think Wood will retire at the end of this season and we are trying to get O Brien for next season too but i think he is under contract for next year so huddersfield would after release him. The biggest changes for me need to come in the front row i am happy with our backrow and hooking options but in the middle i think we need big changes. The names already mentioned as possible additions would be a good start but as far as exits go i think we need to go even further Fleming Maher Murray Tangata Larroyer for me could leave and i do not see Moore as getting better anymore he seems to have stagnated so could leave for me but i can not see that happening. Even Woodburn-Hall since the interest from Cas does not seem quite at the level he was earlier in the season. The biggest shining light is Lachlans form he is a try scoring machine and long may that continue.

Ive said many times this year that the core of our squad is really good and if we had performed anywhere near most of last seasons form we would have been comfortable in 2nd by now but for whatever reason that just has not happened and rather than kick on we have fallen in to a group of teams that are around 5th-7th.

So a quick look at the current squad and my feelings on them.

Keep:-
JWH - Best fullback in the league for mine.
James Saltonstall - Almost on the fence with this one just because I'd like to see maizen on the wing. Salty won't cost much though and he's a very good player if you ignore the odd brain fart.
Lachlan Walmsley - Would love to keep, head and shoulders the best winger in the Championship so maybe a SL team takes a punt on him.
Joe Keyes - Quality player.
Louis Jouffret - In out top 3 players this season, must keep.
Jacob Fairbank - I think he has had a really good season and is our captain in all but name.
Will Calcott - Developing in to one of the top props in the division, a no brainer keep.
Ben Kavanagh - Steady eddy, never seems to have a bad game and you need that type of player.
Kevin Larroyer - Bad luck with the injury but I think his form last season was really good and worth keeping as a squad player.
Dan Murray - In the never have a bad game mould, has to be kept.
Matty Gee - Quality player and seems a good bloke to have around the place, no brainer keep again.
Tom Inman - Distribution from dummy half so much better than Moore but obviously Grix has to pick his captain. Would be great if we kept him and he could learn from AOB.
Ryan Lannon - Looks a really good signing, like watching him play.
Ben Crooks - We finally have a cente 6 months in to the season.

On the fence:-
Ben Tibbs - Looks good in attack on a dry ground but defense is poor and when our form is like it is now compared to last season, it gets highlighted a lot more. He won't be on much money though so again may be worth hanging on to as a back up.
Brandon Moore - Very much depend on who we keep in this position. I still think he is one of the best hookers in the league its just that AOB is so much better. Grix for me has run Moore ragged trying to make him in to this hybrid Hooker/LF type player and I think its hurt us and the player. Keep AOB then shipping Moore saves a big wage and keep Inman as out 2nd hooker.
Adam Tangata - His form this season has me leaning towards get rid. Discipline is poor but I really hope after last week he can get some form that makes it worth hanging on to him as again he is great to have around the club just can't be any room for sentiment.
Ben Forster - Don't know anything about him to say for certain and only his first year here.
Eribe Doro - I get that he might not be the best trainer or whatever but the lad is a raw talent. If you can't help him as a person or as a player then you are failing as a coach.
Jake Maizen - As above would like to see him play wing with his pace but his form for me has been eratic. It may just take him a bit of time to settle in and I have no doubt he can improve as a player its just the is he a centre or a winger debate that has me on the fence. If we sign 2 good centres and keep both wingers then he could struggle for game time. Certainly leaning towards keep just want to see more from him because he has shown he is capable.

Get rid:-
Cole Oakley - Nothing against the lad but all this time at the club and I'm not even sure Ive seen him play.
Kyle Wood - Could be in the on the fence group depending on who we keep in the hooker situation. He's had a good season but I suspect he will be on more than a number of our players so could free some cash and keep Inman as one for the future.
Will Maher - Don't know what happened with this signing, looked decent for Hull KR but has been shocking. Get rid and free some cash.
Brandon Pickersgill - If we keep JWH then makes sense to get rid, we have plenty of cover at FB and this really was a shocking signing and you have to feel bad for a player of this talenet that he has been treated the way he has.
Dan Fleming - Another baffling signing and Doro and maher will have known the writing was on the wall when we brought him in.

What I think we need:-
Another specialist centre, going in to the season without a centre was madness.
Half back cover. This is a tough one, most expensive position so trying to get someone to sit and play 3rd wheel is hard. The ironic thing this season is that after we brought Pickersgill in the obvious switch was JWH to half back.
A barnstorming prop. Again its tough as everyone is looking at this type of player and when we had one we let them go to our main rivals. Maybe an overseas player or something to try and ignite the fans imagination could be an option.
A football director or similar. No disrespect to the new guy as I'm sure he has the best intentions but you have to have someone with experience in this position and I think our hap hazard recruitment is an indicator of this.

All in all I don't think we are far off having a really good team and after going through the list of players it still baffles me as to how we have ended up in the situation we are in as I wouldn't swap our squad with any other team outside of Toulouse and Fev so again some of the blame has to lie with the coach.

Yep, spot on. I could have written that almost word for word. Regarding Simon Grix I still think he has the makings of a good coach but he desperately needs a right hand man to balance his abilities with. There is still time to make this season a memorable one in the league as well as the 1895 Cup. As i say, it only takes one game. Up The Fax!

Completely agree, greg (here I go again!) regarding your thoughts on Moore. He's been a great servant for Fax and always gives 100%, but when Inman came on board it showed how slow Moore had become, and even more so with O'Brien - his distribution from dummy half at Bradford was so much quicker and had us on the front foot. how on earth we blew that I'll never know. And Wood has lost the zip so ironically even though we have 4 hookers, we only really have 2 !

And for all my criticism of Grix's choice of recent substitutions, somebody did make the point that Doro was probably in the squad to make up the numbers despite being injured, so probably Grix had little choice even though Fleming was named 18th man last Sunday so he would have been a better choice imo. He's a good coach, and tbh who would replace him anyway? Even John Kear is finding it tough at Widnes. Would be great to see Widdop on board next season, would be a great mid field general and his experience would make him a good assistant for Grix.

Saw Grix's post match Bradford interview.He's obviously aware of certain comments/criticism.He said he had found a role for Mccomb as a forward in certain circumstances and thought it worked at Odsal and would try it again in the future.I admire thinking outside the box-i'd have tried Kavanagh as a centre before the Crooks signing..but what does this do for Fleming that his most recent forward signing is overlooked for a utility back when his opportunity arises...really hopr recent events haven't pizzed Inman off too as it's clear to us all who the 2 starting hookers should be.

I wonder if we are any nearer in borrowing or signing a scrum half? Kyle Wood has done well but he will not be good enough to challenge in the play offs and Keyes is out for a long stretch I think.I see Callum McLelland has been released by Cas, maybe worth a punt as back up and he could resurrect himself with us if any where near fit?

He has had a horrendous run with injuries and as had another setback in his recovery program but if he can overcome this then i think he would be worth a go.